Brine Shrimp not Living

[Barnacles 3]

I tried to culture brine shrimp for my goldfish to eat. I can never get them up to size before they are dead. Here is a form with everything about them:

Habitat: two liter plastic bottle.

Salinity: four teaspoons.

Additives: pinch of baking soda

Food: a tiny bit of baker's yeast once a day

Light: 16 hours a day

Heat: lamp

Also, the water evaporates very quickly but I think I should still keep the lamp on so they are warm. I'm losing about a liter per week due to evaporation. If I didn't, the water would probably be about 72 degrees. They pretty much die within three or four days.

Edited November 28, 2012 by Barnacles

[number20121 2,663]

Ok now this is just a guess, but to keep brine shrimp to make them grow larger, you might need a larger container? I only ever read about keeping them in bottles when you want to produce BABY brine shrimp to feed to fish fry.

Keep in mind that even the brine shrimp produce ammonia, and a 2 liter bottle is a very small amount of water. I wonder if the ammonia rises and kills them?

Again, I have never hatched brine shrimp like this and I am just wildly guessing.

[FlipsHere 323]

Larger bowl, change the water every day, remove the dead ones from bottom of bowl and feed them

[Narny105 1,992]

You can also try feeding boiled egg yolk since that is great for growth

You can do water changes using an airstone; that way you don't suck up the free swimming shrimp

Edited November 28, 2012 by Narny105

[Barnacles 3]

Explain?

[GoldenSpoiledRotten 6,786]

Explain?

What part?

[number20121 2,663]

Explain?

What part?

I think he is referring to Narny's mentioning of doing water changes with an air stone? That's at least what I think and wonder about too.

I know you can easily drain the water with the tubing from an air stone, like a miniature siphon. I used to do that with my goldfish fry when they just hatched

[Narny105 1,992]

when they are very small you can use an airstone to siphon water out. Providing you aren't overfeeding, for the first week when they are quite small you can attach tubing to an airstone, and create a suction. Water is pulled through the airstone and the holes are too small for any brine shrimp to get pulled through. It's an easy method to remove water until they are big enough to be able to see. The only problem is it won't pull through much waste, just water, but it only takes around two weeks until you can use some actual airline tubing to suction waste. They won't produce much within the first few weeks anyway provided you don't overfeed.

Feeding is also quite simple if you are using anything that can be powderised such as egg. Use a syringe, mix the powdered food with water (estimate 1 gram per 5ml of water) and then squeeze a little into the water so it is like a little cloud. It's a lot easier for them to eat and it should be easy enough to control the amount of food that is remaining on the bottom

If you feel it necessary, you can also use a syringe to remove waste from the bottom of the bottle. Once they are big enough they should be moved into a larger space than a 2L bottle. I would be getting one of those small betta tanks (around 5L) since they are perfect for them and shouldn't be used on bettas anyway